Chapter 12: False Hero

Chapter 12:
False Hero

 

WE WERE LUCKY General Stey and Lyrica had come to find us when they did. We could never have defeated the guardian without them. Apparently, they’d been on the walls when the monsters had simply stopped attacking and started to withdraw. That must have been when we destroyed the Stone of Peace. Since they were no longer needed on the walls, the general and remaining soldiers had turned their attention to exterminating the monsters left in town.

That’s when they found us, and thus ended the final monster siege. The event left behind many dead and wounded, as well as a great deal of property damage, but, compared to previous assaults, the casualties were few this time. We all spent the next few hours working to save people trapped in the wreckage and getting medical treatment for them.

To my relief, Gillan was safe as well.

 

***

 

Two days later, we were still in the Kingdom of Rosette. We really wanted to head home, but we were obliged to meet the king first. He wanted to reward us for our actions.

But presently, I was not in Honest or the capital of Rosette. I hadn’t gone home either. Rather, I had joined Duke Schoen, his soldiers, and my brother on an excursion to the village of Tonnelles. The duke glared angrily at the villagers gathered in the square.

“Village Chief O’Aura Gaien, do these two men look familiar to you?” Schoen asked.

“N-no, I’ve never seen them before in my life.”

“What about the rest of you?”

The other villagers shook their heads. They’d all agreed to play dumb. How brazen. Gillan couldn’t bear it.

“Drop the act, you vicious cannibals! Your crimes against humanity have been exposed. Confess!”

“I see…” said the chief. “Duke Schoen, you don’t actually believe this madman’s story, do you?”

“I do.”

The chief was a little taken aback by that, but his arrogant attitude quickly returned.

“Tonnelles is the birthplace of Gaien. Do you really think the great hero’s own people are cannibals? What proof do you have?”

“We’re here to look for physical evidence,” said Schoen. “And, we have these two eyewitnesses. And, there have been an unusually high number of disappearances in this area.”

“Your Grace, I mean no offense, but for you to trust the words of these strange fellows over your own people, the people of the great hero’s own town, no less, it is simply—”

“Gaien was no hero. Noir, tell them what we learned.”

I stepped up and explained that Gaien’s own relic was the source of the great monster sieges. On hearing this, the villagers went pale. They finally understood what a mess they were in.

“Gaien wanted immortality,” I said. “When he realized he’d never achieve it, he summoned those monsters to make people suffer. It was all so that he’d be remembered as a hero. But he was no hero. He was a liar, and so is everyone in this village!”

The village chief hung his head, but I saw him slip his hand into his shirt.

“It’ll take you two seconds to throw that exploding stone,” I said, “but it’ll only take me one to cut off your arm. Is it really worth the risk?”

“Ughh…” O’Aura fell to his knees and ground his teeth in frustration.

“Arrest him,” said Schoen.

The soldiers moved in. Before long, they had all the villagers in custody. Gillan nodded enthusiastically all the while.

After that, he and I built a simple grave to honor the people who had been killed by the villagers of Tonnelles and left some flowers on it.

On the carriage ride back, Duke Schoen apologized to us.

“I should have done this the moment you told me what happened. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “The other nobles had their own opinions about the situation too. Right, Gillan?”

“Yeah. I feel so much better now, though. It’s like they say: good always triumphs in the end. Plus, I had a lot of time to reflect on my life before Noir saved me. I want to do better in a lot of ways, but my number one regret is not taking my studies more seriously.”

Huh. He had really changed this time. I was shocked to discover that he’d broken up with his many, many girlfriends.

Gillan wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. “I’m going to become a great merchant,” he announced proudly. “So I want you to become a great hero, Noir.”

“I’m not really interested in the whole hero thing. I just wanna live a safe and comfortable life.”

“Oh, Noir, you haven’t changed one bit!”

“They say that people only ever change when they’re so scared or so sad that they feel like they might die,” I said with a smile. “I’ve not experienced either of those things yet.”

Both Gillan and Duke Schoen seemed to understand.

When we got back to Honest, we had to transfer to a carriage headed to the capital. It was already waiting for us outside the gates when we arrived, as were Emma and the other girls.

“You’re finally back. How’d it go?”

“Well, I think the villagers got what they deserved,” I said. “I guess we should get in, huh?”

“Hang on, hang on, we had a little talk.”

What was this about? Emma, Lola, Luna, and Leila all surrounded me with their hands outstretched. I was pretty confused, but all of them were grinning. Was this about LP? I hoped they wouldn’t do anything too weird out in public…

“You worked so hard this time, we all wanted to acknowledge that,” said Emma.

“Now, relax.”

“And here we go.”

“Get ready, Noir, we’re gonna toss you!”

And that’s exactly what they did. The four of them lifted me up and threw me into the air. I felt like I was flying.

“Ah ha ha, this is pretty fun!”

I let myself enjoy it, laughing up at the big blue sky.